Unbelievable
by so-its-now-or-never-isn't-it
Summary: Hermione Granger and the Doctor met on three different occasions.


**Author's Note: I thought I'd be the last person on earth to write a crossover, but a GIF set on Tumblr inspired me to write this. I don't see any kind of romantic relationship between Hermione and the Doctor, but a friendship spanning over three encounters...hmm! I wrote this three-part fic to find out what that would look like. For Ten, this is after meeting Donna but before Martha, so that Rose-sized wound is still very fresh. More on that later. And there's still going to be a bunch of R/Hr in this, trust me. :)**

**Everything goes to JKR and the creators of DW. Here goes!**

* * *

"Who are you?"

The hard expression on Hermione's face twitched. She pulled herself to her full height and stuck out her wand arm a bit further.

"I think you know full well who I am," she answered, a bit shakily.

The stranger didn't say anything. His hands remained in the pockets of his brown suit as he mulled her over.

It had started out like any other watch night, with the woods making noises she tried not to worry about. But this noise had been different. It was a thundering, whooshing-type sound; the only thing she could compare it to was a Caterwauling Charm. It lasted only a few seconds, but she feared that they may have unwanted visitors. She meant to leave the protections for just a minute, and ended up wandering further than she'd expected to. She'd been making a wide circle around camp when he came walking out in front of her, and she knew: the noise had been fabricated because he knew she'd sense danger. _He's found us. He must be a Snatcher..._

"Who are you?" she asked him, trying to keep a threatening, even tone while her mind worked out a plan for her escape. _He hasn't drawn out his wand yet...a non-verbal Stun will have to do, but without the incantation it might not be as strong...I'll have to run for my life just to reach the protections in time...but what if...?_

Her eyes darted over the man's shoulder. There was only dark, seemingly empty forest at his back. Keeping her wand steady in his direction, she looked to her sides and behind her. The same. If there were others, they were not making themselves known...but why wouldn't they ambush immediately, knowing who she is, knowing that she's been traveling with Harry?

When she turned her head, the man was gone.

Hermione's heart beat twice as fast. She started to run, crunching dead leaves beneath her feet, certainly giving her position away to any concealed enemies, but now she could only think of two people.

"RON!" she screamed. "HARRY!"

Hermione knew she was a ways from the tent, and the wall of enhancements surrounding it muffled the noise outside. But she hoped, she prayed that they would hear her, that the fear in her voice might somehow penetrate her own spells and reach their ears...

A quiet _oof!_ escaped her lips as she ran into something that staggered once she'd made impact. Scrambling backwards, she tripped and landed on a damp layer of leaves, with her wand outstretched in front of her.

She crawled in retreat on the forest floor until her back hit a tree trunk. The man stood still and watched her, his eyes looking less suspicious and more curious. Hermione brought her trembling legs to stand, leaning against the tree. Raising her arm again, her wand sputtered a few red sparks, no doubt a symptom of the intense feeling channeling through it from its owner.

"What's that?" The man asked, looking at her hand.

"What?" Hermione said quickly, and she swallowed. _Stupid,_ she thought to herself, _you're just spelling out your fear of him now..._

"What is _that_," he repeated, pointing now, "the thing in your hand?"

Hermione looked to her wand and back to the stranger. Her eyes narrowed.

"What are you playing at?" she asked, shifting her weight off the tree and onto her own two feet. "Y-You ask who I am, and now you're wondering what this is?" She said, flicking her wand feebly. A second spurt of red sparks fell to the ground.

The stranger's hand moved near his mouth and he looked thoughtful. "I, I..."

"For Merlin's sake, _what do you want_?!" she shouted, feeling hysterical.

"Merlin? Did you just say Merlin?" asked the man, who took a few steps forward. "As in 12th century Merlin? King Arthur's time? The legendary warlock?"

"He's not a legend!" Hermione heard herself say. She stepped back into the tree a second time.

"Of course not!" said the stranger, seeming to talk to the air around him. "I've met the man. Good chap, a bit cheeky..."

_Has he just said he's met Merlin?_ Hermione thought to herself. While trying to shake off his last words as just mental, Hermione was starting to think a teensy bit better of him. She still didn't fully believe that he didn't recognize her, or know what she held in her hand, but considering that she wasn't yet dead or captured, she thought he might not be on the side of the Ministry, or on the side of Voldemort.

The man was giving her that quizzical look again. "What's your name?"

Could it be true, that he had been wandering out in these woods, and wasn't actually looking for them?

"Penelope," she answered after a moment. "Penelope Clearwater." He may not be a Snatcher, but she still didn't trust him.

"Penelope," said the man, coming closer to her, "can I ask you a question?"

He took her silence as a positive.

"Is that a wand you're holding?"

"...Yes," she said warily, stepping to the side of the tree that had blocked her path. "What else would it be?" she snapped, trying to sound a bit edgy.

Hermione swore she saw some sort of smile on the man's face. He started to walk around.

"Oh, I don't know, could be a broken fuse, the way it's sparking like that," he grinned, "Or just a funny looking twig. Though, my first thought was some sort of Hyspero technology, but it looks too organic, too natural...Jaconda? No, too advanced...I thought it had to be something, something-" his eyes lingered over her "-alien."

In the next moment, the man took far too many steps towards her, and Hermione's raw reaction was to shield her face and wave her wand in his direction. Hearing the blast mingled with her own scream, she peered over her raised arm and saw a small ditch, singed and crackling in the spot where the stranger once stood. He was a few feet away from it now, bringing his own arms down from his head and spreading his palms open in front of him. Hermione's left arm remained near eye level, with her wand arm pointed to the man's chest. They stood six feet apart.

"I'm sorry," he said slowly. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just trying to understand."

Hermione's chest was shuddering. She didn't answer him.

"I'm just an unarmed nobody, you're the one holding that fantastic weapon!" He watched her with the softest look she'd seen from him yet. "Why are you so _afraid_?"

Hermione took a shaky breath and lowered her wand a few inches. She decided to stop answering his questions until he gave answers to some of hers.

"Who are you?" she said, raising her voice. "What's your name?"

"Ethan, Ethan Adkins," he said offhandedly. "I live just up the road in Beverley. I work at the school," he said, and he pulled out a thin brown wallet from his chest pocket. He flipped it open. "There we are." He stuck it out an arm's length in front of him.

Hermione's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What are you showing me that for?"

His eyes flickered down to it. "It's my faculty identification."

"No, that's a blank card."

He grinned at her and flipped it closed. "Ah, smart girl! Brilliant, more like." He tucked the blank paper back inside his suit. "The question now is, _what_ are you?" He looked at her as if he was performing a dissection. Hermione lowered her arm from her eyes. "And why you've got this...wand?"

Hermione tried to glare at him but could only stare curiously. She was now seriously considering he may just be a Muggle, though him showing her that blank ID did put her off a bit...and what was that talk about Merlin and aliens? There was something about him, though, that made him seem highly knowledgable. And if he was going to hurt her, he'd done it by now-in the middle of a forest at night, with her friends tucked in bed a long ways off. It was the perfect setup. But all he appeared to want was answers, about her wand and her fears. Another strange thing was that he hadn't run off when she'd tried to blast him to the sun. He'd seen the damage she could've caused to him, but he didn't run away. Any sane human would, but he hadn't. If anything, it just made him more interested.

Feeling a bit more confident, and trusting that she could perform a quick Memory Charm if things got out of hand, she answered him.  
"I'm a witch."

"Are you serious?" He asked, looking at her carefully.

She bit down on her lip, mentally berating herself. _Why did you tell him? Stupid, Hermione, just stupid! How can you trust him?_

She couldn't see a way to back herself out of it now. She wasn't one for improvising.

"Look," she started, "I know it sounds...mental..."

"Mental!" He said excitedly. "Oh, of course! It's mad, it's fantastic!" He threw his hands up in excitement, looking again to the air around him before settling his eyes on Hermione. "And it's all real, isn't it?"

Hermione swallowed and lowered her wand to her hip. She was utterly confused by him.

He took two steps towards her and began rummaging through his pant's pocket. "Now, I'll ask again, what are you? What else? How would you classify yourself?"

She felt a bit winded. "I'm human."

"I'm human!" He exclaimed. "It's that easy, is it?" He had half his arm, up to his elbow, digging through his pocket, which certainly did not appear to be that deep.

Hermione stared at his disappearing arm. _Bigger on the inside...could be an Extension Charm. But if he's not a wizard..._ "How is that-?"

"A-ha!" He was now flipping a metal contraption around in his hand. He clicked something on its body, and the tip glowed blue while making a strange buzzing noise. Closing the remaining space between them, he stepped forward and drew the tool along the skin of her arm.

"What's that?!" Hermione asked, a bit frantic. He turned off his tool and stuck it in his pocket.

"Were you born on Earth?"

"Yeah," she said, rubbing her hand over her arm.

"And you've always been a witch?"

"Uhm, yes, but I didn't know until I was eleven." Hermione tightened her grip on her wand.

"Are your parents human?"

_Parents._ A feeling of guilt struck her. She hadn't thought about them recently, not for days...with the locket and all that was going on, she'd been so caught up. Out of nowhere, she felt tears prickle her eyes and she hoped that they were alright...

"Did something happen?" asked the man, who to Hermione's dismay, had noticed her change of face. "Did something happen to your parents?"

"Yes," she said quickly. "I mean, yes, they're human, but no, they're...fine."

He gave her a leery look before turning around. He made slow paces back and forth.

"It's in your blood," he said. "Your power is in your blood and coming out of that wand. And you can control it. The wand is an extension of your body. Almost like...the power's in your genes, it's a genetic oddity." He paused and looked up at the sky. "Where am I?"

Hermione stood silent, not sure what to say.

"Is everyone on Earth like you?" he asked.

"No."

"Are there others like you?"

"...Yeah, but-"

Something on his face light up. "It _is_ a genetic mutation! Passed down through family lines for years, am I right? It's all in the code! I never thought that you could exist, I didn't think..." His face fell very quickly, and he again he asked the air, "Where am I?"

_That's it, he's mad_, thought Hermione.

"Oh, my God." He put a hand over his mouth. He looked around himself again. "But how?! How did I..."

In the next moment, he was running off to their left. Hermione found herself taking a few steps after him.

"Where are you going?" she yelled. He stopped and turned around, looking flustered and a bit flabbergasted.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I've just got to...I've got to figure it out, figure out how I've gotten here..."

"Well, you're going the wrong way," she called, and she felt a small smile cross her lips as she pointed behind her. "Town's south from here."

He retraced his steps and came in front of her again. "I'm not...I'm not from Beverley."

Hermione watched him, unsurprised. "I kind of figured that," she said quietly.

"You did?" He said, scratching the back of his head.

"Well, for one, you weren't at all shocked when I used my wand. Certainly not the usual Muggle reaction-"

"Muggle?"

She smiled to herself again. "You're different, is what I mean."

"Yeah, well..."

"Where are you from, really?" She asked, cocking her head slightly.

He let out a breath he'd been holding too long. "Not your planet."

Hermione's head snapped back into place. _He's mad, he's mad..._

"Not even your universe, actually, which is the part that's frightening me..."

"You're mad." Hermione was backing up from him now. Fear settled into her chest again. "You're completely mad."

He raised an eyebrow, "Coming from a human witch?"

Hermione stopped retreating. "But you believe me, don't you?"

He nodded. "Every word."

"But...'not from my planet', that talk about my wand being alien...that's _rubbish_!"

"But _you_!" said the man with the same emphasis, jabbing his hand at her. "With that stick of wood with sparkles flying out of it! I'd say we're both unbelievable."

Hermione didn't say anything.

"I'll be off, then," he said, and nodded to her before turning around and walking quickly off.

"Wait! Ethan!"

The man turned, groaning. "My name's not Ethan..."

"What is it, then?"

"I'm the Doctor," he said, "and I'll be back, I promise. I've just got to sort some things out."

He continued walking, and before he went out of sight, he called over his shoulder, "Nice meeting you, Penelope Clearwater!"

Hermione's correction died on her lips. It was still best that he didn't know her real name, if he ever went off babbling to the wrong lot. Besides, he was gone now, as quickly as he'd come.

As she made her way back in the direction of the campsite, her mind was going at full speed.

As harmless as that man had seemed, he wasn't innocent. He knew things, he'd seen things that made her own existence believable to him...was that because he was an alien? T_hat's barking_, she thought. But Hermione thought back to when she'd gotten her Hogwarts letter, and how she'd first written it off as some sort of joke. Magic had always been a fairy tale before then. It didn't appear logical, yet the more she learned, the more it made sense, and fit seamlessly into the Muggle world. She would've never believed something like Hogwarts could be real, but it was.

So, how far off could it be that she, a witch, had just run into an alien?

And what was it that he said, about her being a _human_ witch? What other kind was there? _A lack of imagination limits the mind_, she told herself. But could it really be true? Extraterrestrial life? After all, there was no hard evidence against it...

"HERMIONE!"

She jumped at the sound of her name. It had been shouted, somewhere close.

"_HERMIONE!_"

The voice sounded scared, almost tearful. She knew exactly who it belonged to. She began to run towards it, weaving in and out of trees, trying to find her way.

"Ron?" she called, with her wand drawn out. The way he sounded, he was surely anxious. Over what, she hadn't a clue, but it was best to be careful...

Out of nowhere, his body slammed into her side. She knew it was him, from the way he smelled and the glimpse of ginger hair she'd gotten right before they collided. As they staggered backwards together, his arms moved around her back and held her still.

"Ron?" she said faintly, gripping him back just as tightly. After what had just happened, she was glad to be surrounded by familiarity, to be practically engulfed by him...

He pulled back from the embrace while keeping his arms around her. He looked absolutely livid.

"What the _hell_ were you thinking, going off on your own like that?!"

"I, I heard something," she stammered, nervous by how fearful and angry he was. "I didn't mean to be gone very long-!"

"I woke up and thought I'd take my watch shift early, so you could sleep," he said, breathing heavily, "And when I came out, you weren't...and I thought..."

He gathered her up in his arms again, and Hermione let her face fall into his shoulder. She relished in how warm he was, how his arms felt around her body...

"And then there was screaming...and someone's wand going off."

He gave her a tight squeeze before letting one arm lift from her waist. "I better tell Harry," he said, waving his wand as he mumbled, "_I found her. Both safe. Meet back at the tent_."

His Patronus, a lively Jack Russell, barked as it came streaming from his wand. It ran off into the dark, a brilliant blue trail dissolving behind it.

"Where is he?" asked Hermione, trying not to turn too red as she dropped her arms from around Ron's neck.

"About a mile that way, I reckon." He nodded in the direction he'd come from.

"A mile?!"

"I saw you were gone about fifteen minutes ago, and heard the scream a few minutes after." He ran a hand through his hair. "At that point, we split up. Started running."

Hermione watched him, feeling truly sorry for the unnecessary panic she'd caused, though she also felt touched that he had been worried and so intent on finding her. She knew she would've reacted the same, if he'd gone missing.

"What'd you scream for?" he asked, looking down at her. Concern was still etched on his face. "And that was your wand we heard, yeah?"

"It was nothing, I just thought...I saw something," she answered. Somehow, she had decided in that moment not to tell Ron about the Doctor (what kind of name was that, anyway?) or at least not until her head stopped spinning.

She watched the tension in Ron's face ease up slowly. They remained silent for a moment, both catching their breath.

"I'm sorry."

"I know," Ron said. "But no more late night walks without me, alright?" He gave her a smile before reaching for her hand. "Come on, let's get you warm."

He began walking forward, leading Hermione along with him. She felt her face burn._ Relax_, she told herself, w_e've done this before. It's only holding hands, doesn't mean anything_. But she knew it was a lie. It meant a lot-to her, at least. How he'd hugged her once he'd found her, and how he grabbed her hand so tightly now, walking off in the direction of their campsite. She squeezed his hand and he squeezed back.

A minute later, she turned her head and looked at where they'd come from. No sign of anyone. No sign of a strange man in a brown suit who called himself the Doctor. He said he'd be back, but an itching thought was telling Hermione that they should pack up first thing in the morning. It wasn't that she feared the stranger-she thoroughly believed he wasn't a threat to them. It still didn't change the fact that someone had walked almost right into their campsite. It saddened her a bit, to think of how he'll feel when he comes back and sees no sign of her, but she knew they had to move somewhere remote. They couldn't risk having another person get so close, because next time, it could be someone they actually knew. It could be one of their enemies.

**So, how is it? Eek. Please review x**


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